From the Bridge
by Violets
Summary: Jess should have never left Rory crying on the bridge, no sir.


Characters, situation, etc. all belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB.

I was going to originally have Logan take out Rory's hair in another story but I started this one first. Her dance marathon hair probably didn't have any bobby pins in it so please imagine that it did!

**oooooooooo**

_JESS: He was right. . . about all of it. _

_RORY: So, what now? _

_JESS: You're definitely broken up with Dean? _

_RORY: Yeah, I'm definitely broken up with Dean. _

_JESS: Okay. I have to go take care of something then. _

**oooooooooo**

"Don't," she said softly.

"Don't what?" he was confused.

"Don't go. Please? Stay."

"What about Shane?"

"It'll wait. Why start feeling guilty now?"

He shrugged. "Good point."

He walked towards Rory's hunched figure and sat beside her. She turned to look at him, her makeup smeared and her curls sagging.

"I'm so sorry, Jess."

He was quiet for a long moment and then he spoke. "Me too."

"What are you sorry for?"

"For once, I didn't enjoy seeing Dean get pissed off. It was kind of sad watching him freak out like that. And I should have said something to you sooner but that's just not my style. And that I bothered you so much and that it had to come to this." He paused. "What are you sorry for?"

"For not breaking up with Dean sooner, for denying everything to everyone, including myself. For kissing you and running away and leaving you with nothing. For being jealous. For being rude to Shane. For not telling you go away, for wanting you there, wherever you were, being annoying." He had to smile a little at that last part.

"Well if it's any consolation, I forgive you, Rory."

"I forgive you, too."

Her hands were clenched on the edge of the bridge, knuckles turning dangerous colors. He grabbed the hand that was closest to him and held it in his.

"You look beautiful," he said, his voice husky.

She shook her head. "No I don't. I'm a mess."

"You're not a mess, Rory. You are a perfect wartime goddess, even with mascara running down your face."

"Thank you," she whispered. He squeezed her hand tightly and she felt warm inside.

**oooooooooo**

"So are we a couple now?" she asked.

"If you want to be."

"Jess, don't be stupid. You know you want it just as much as I do."

"So then why ask if you already know the answer?"

"Self verification? Once it's in the air, it's real."

"It's real, Rory."

"It's real and it's scary," she said honestly. If she said she was scared, then that was out and real, too. Now he knew it and now the world knew it, no more keeping secrets to herself.

"Scary? Do I scare you or does the idea of a relationship with me scare you?"

"_You_ scare me."

"Huh. Pardon me if I ask why."

She took a deep breath and decided to let it all spill out. "Because you're dark and you're scary and you're smart and you're experienced and you're quiet and you're not perfect and I barely got anywhere with Dean and you don't talk a lot and I'm incredibly attracted to you and my mother loathes you and the whole town loathes you and I've had feelings for you probably since the first day I met you!"

He felt like he was shell shocked but hid it and tried to think of something sarcastic or flip to say in response.

"All…valid reasons," he finally got out. "But I have a couple of problems with some of your reasons," he said, his senses returning at last. "I'm not dark and I'm not scary and I don't talk to a whole lot of people, but I definitely talk to _you_."

"But your past?" she questioned.

"It's not as bad as it's built up to be. You know I'm not a real hoodlum. It's petty shit, Ror. Like shoplifting, vandalism, possession, hassling cops. Lizzie was kinda sick of me being arrested or warned or whatever, every other week. My friends weren't exactly 'going places' and she thought I was better than that."

"Well she was right."

"So you've liked me since you met me, huh?" he asked, changing the subject. She figured he was done with his journey into the "dark past" for now and didn't want to be nosy and press him at such a delicate time.

"Ha, ha. I didn't say _like_. I said I was attracted to you."

"Good enough. Why?"

"A new face," she said simply. "And you were pretty cute and read Ginsberg," she added. "Those were plusses."

"Huh."

"When did you know, Jess?"

"Know…"

"Develop feelings?" It wasn't something she would normally ask, but tonight she was feeling bold. She wanted to know when he had fallen for her, right down to the closest moment. She felt like Lizzy Bennett at the end of _Pride and Prejudice_ and hoped that Jess would be able to provide a better answer than Mr. Darcy had.

"Oh…um…I can honestly say that it was a steady, increasing thing."

"How so?"

"The first time I met you, you smiled at me. That was the best smile I'd seen in a while and you looked so…positive. And then I saw the books and then you asked if you looked trustworthy. Well, you did."

"Good," she said, just wanting to hear her voice in the air.

"A couple of weeks later, you and your mom came in after your big 'coming out' and you looked like a princess. I knew I could never have you but I knew I could never stop wanting you, either. And then it just kind of…grew. You didn't kick me out of the sleigh, you laughed at my chalk outline, you told me to be nicer to Luke, had a picnic and traded insufferable authors with me, tried to tutor me, never blamed me for the car accident. And then you kissed me and it was like someone opened a door and showed me a whole new way of life." He squeezed her hand again. "I kind of avoided the question, huh?"

She nodded. "Yep. And in the process, revealed a whole lot of sappy information that I didn't even know you had in you."

"Great," he said sarcastically. "If you really want to know the answer, I guess it's that I've been intrigued by you since the day I met you. After that, whenever something good happened between us, it gave me a little bit of hope that maybe you could see me as someone other than the town delinquent and loser, maybe you could like me, too."

"Wow. We are just a couple of idiots, huh?" she said sadly.

"How do you mean?"

"Well, for all I know, since we apparently both liked each other instantly, you could have jumped me right there in my room after your ridiculous 'hooked on phonics' comment."

He laughed out loud, an honest to goodness laugh that she didn't think she'd ever heard before.

"What? What is so funny?"

He caught his breath and turned to face her. "Rory, I'm not stupid. You didn't look like a girl who'd appreciate being attacked by a complete stranger. However, the hooked on phonics comment was pretty lame. I can't believe you remember that."

"Oh, I remember lots of silly things. That night, I think I replayed our whole parting conversation in my head, many times. Like, _who is this crazy boy_ and _what is much_?"

"Well, well, look who was smitten. You _are_ a terrible person, Lorelai Gilmore, stringing Dean along for over a year after that," he said playfully.

"I know," her voice was barely audible. "I am the lowest of the low." She looked up at him and he could see that she was crying again. "I don't deserve you, Jess. Not after everything that happened. How could I possibly deserve to get what I want after hurting him? Dean was nothing but nice to me. He was perfect!"

"No he wasn't," Jess stated, somewhat coldly. "He was possessive and temperamental and I don't think he ever understood you the way that I think I can. He was too tall, anyway," he added with a slight smile. All he got was a soft sniffle in response. "He wasn't perfect, Rory. You're not perfect and neither am I. Didn't anyone ever tell you that no one is perfect?"

"Yes," she whispered. "But that doesn't make it any easier."

"But that doesn't mean that you don't deserve this. Never say that you don't deserve anything because I think you deserve everything good in the world. You'll get over this thing, though. You'll both move on and Dean really liked you so I think he'll forgive you. If he holds it against you, he's a real asshole."

"I think he _should_ hold it against me," Rory sniffed.

"Look, he thought there was something going on between us, right?" She nodded. "So he's partly to blame, too. Dean had ample time to explode and dump you before tonight, but he didn't. Maybe he was in denial, too."

"I hadn't thought of that," she admitted.

He slid a few inches away from her, then, and swung one leg around her body so that she was in between his legs. He pulled her hands away from the bridge, took them in his own and rested them on his legs. She relaxed and leaned back into his hard, lean, torso, letting her head rest right under his neck. For the first time, she could inhale the smell of him—smoke, diner, cologne—and not feel guilty. It was liberating; she turned her head and placed a soft kiss on his neck.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For my own personal gain," she replied, a hint of mischief in her voice. "And 'cause you smell nice."

"Huh." He let her hands go and moved his arms around her waist. He held her close, as if he feared she would suddenly get up and run away. Surprisingly, she kept her hands right where they were, enjoying the very feeling of touching him.

"So how about we continue with the problems I have regarding your list of reasons why I scare you," he suggested.

"I—I thought we were done with that," she said uneasily.

"The dark and scary part, yes. The part about my past, yes. The part where we've liked each other for a while, yes. We're leaving out the key part, though."

"Which would be?" She knew what was coming. She had regretted blurting out her embarrassment at her lack of sexual experience right after she had said it but she had hoped he wouldn't remember. Silly Rory, Jess remembered everything.

"The part where I'm 'experienced' and you 'barely got anywhere with Dean.'"

"Huh," was all she could say in response.

"What even makes you think I'm so experienced in the first place?" he asked, genuinely curious. She didn't answer. "Rory?" Gently, he squeezed his arms around her waist.

"I…I just feel like you are. I know people move faster in New York City and you probably ran with some fast girls. It's in the way that you carry yourself, the way that you look at me. It's how you put your hands on my face and tried to grab me around the waist when I kissed you at the wedding." She took a deep breath before saying the next part, the part she really didn't want to admit to anyone. "And I saw you kissing Shane, when I got back from Washington and you definitely looked like you knew what you were doing."

"Kissing her when? Where?"

"I don't remember exactly."

"Don't play dumb, Rory," he warned.

"At that stupid summer festival, against a tree. And your hands were in her back pockets and…I just couldn't…" she trailed off, choking out a sob.

"What? Am I doing something wrong here?" he asked softly. "Why is this making you cry?"

She didn't answer him. She pulled away from the warmth of his body and put her head in her hands, elbows on her thighs. He could see her body shaking slightly but felt powerless. He didn't know what he had done and he didn't know what he could do to help her.

"Rory," he tried again. "What's happening here?"

She pulled her hands away from her eyes and suddenly straightened up.

"I don't know!" she said loudly, almost screaming it into the night.

In a swift motion, Jess brought Rory's body back against his, leaned down and kissed her fiercely. Shocked, she grabbed onto the hands around her waist and held on for dear life as his tongue roughly invaded her mouth and marked it as its own.

Out of breath, he broke away first and stared down into her beautiful blue eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said sheepishly. "Impulse reaction, there."

She blinked twice and sat up a little straighter before leaning back and resuming her earlier position.

"That's alright," she said, not looking at him. "I don't know what's with me tonight… or is it today? Oh, it's morning."

"It's been a weird 24 hours," he noted. "You want to just go home and back to Lorelai?"

"No!" she said adamantly. "Right now I just want to be here with you."

"Oh Rory, that's _so_ touching," he smirked.

"I—I'm serious—oh shut up!" she giggled, but sobered quickly. "I'm sorry I went all schizo there. There are just so many things that I haven't told anyone and have barely admitted to myself. It's just really hard to say them out loud, especially to the person who is supposed to hear them." She paused. "I'm not used to keeping secrets, you know? I tell Dean things and my mom and Lane and Sookie and now I feel like I've been keeping the secret of the century for almost a year and now I get the opportunity to spill it and I can't even do that!" She turned her body so that she could look up at him. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"It's been a weird 24 hours," he said again, kissing her forehead. "Weird and exhausting. I wouldn't blame you if your mind was slightly out of whack for once."

"Gee, thanks," she muttered.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with you. I think you're worn out and you're scared, but that's it. I also think that we should make you less scared and continue our previous conversation."

"Oh is that what you think?" she asked, her voice dripping with playful sarcasm. "You, Jess Mariano, king of not talking about anything wants to _talk_? Well excuse me, but pfft!"

"I'm sorry, what was that last part?"

"Pfft!" she repeated. The sound made him laugh a little.

"I didn't say I would talk, dearest Rory. I think that you should talk and that I should listen. Listening, I do well."

"So do I," she grumbled. "You might even benefit from it once in a while if you weren't so thick headed," she added, a bit louder.

"What?"

"Never mind," she sighed. "I guess I can tell you about the kissing Shane thing if you still want to know."

"No, now I want to know why you're making snide comments under your breath," he said. By now, his hands had found their way inside her coat. He was still holding her around the waist but his fingers were rubbing soft circles on her stomach, warming her with every touch. "Talk to me, please?"

"It's funny," she began. "Here you are, asking me to tell you things, very personal things, things regarding you and I that we could never talk about before. And this is nice, what we're doing here, but if we're going to be a couple there are going to have to be a few changes in that lovely personality of yours because I don't want this early morning honesty to fade away tomorrow and never be heard from again."

"So what do you propose we do?" he asked.

"You're a listener, you said? Well, so am I. If this relationship is ever going to work, you're going to have to talk to me, Jess. I know you have a ton of angst and a million problems inside that twisted head of yours, but we are never going to move forward if you don't at least tell me some things. Tell me when you have a rough day, about your bad memories, what makes you happy, the last time you cried. I promise that I will never, ever, judge. Everyone needs an ear leant to them; you can't just keep all of your pain bottled up inside and unleash it at the wrong time, only to have things be worse than they were in the beginning." She took a breath, and resumed speaking. "I just want you to know that I will always be here to listen to you, as cheesy as it may sound. If you let me hear them, I will keep all of your secrets and fears and dreams. It will all be sacred, Jess."

She wanted to know the last time he had cried? Jess couldn't really wrack his brain at that moment, but he was thinking he was damn near close to crying right now. This pretty, intelligent, witty girl wanted all of his good and his bad. She had called it 'sacred,' and though he would never admit it out loud, her words made him feel special. He felt positive, like he had on the day of their fateful first meeting. He wanted to break down and tell her everything right then and there, no matter if she could handle it or not.

Rory knew he was thinking about what she had just said. Those were things that she had been thinking about since junior year, after she'd gotten to know him a little better. She didn't feel sorry for him, but she felt for him. Poor kid—flake for a mother, abandoner for a father, shipped up to Stars Hollow to live with an uncle whom he barely knew, in a town full of goodness and sunshine and too many smiles. Whenever Jess pulled one of his pranks or was particularly nasty to Luke, Rory always tried to put herself in his shoes and tried to understand how his mind worked.

But if they were going to try dating? Well, there would have to be some changes made. The "I have issues" excuse was going to go only so far.

"Sacred, huh?" he finally said, his fingers pulling absentmindedly at the fabric of her dress. "Is that really what you want—to hear all of my deepest fears and most outlandish dreams?"

"Sometimes I wonder if you even have dreams," she said quietly. "But yes, I want to know it all. Don't you ever wish you had someone to talk to? Even just a little?"

"Yeah," he admitted, his voice breaking on the one word.

She turned her whole body around again and kneeled in between his legs. She cupped his face in her hands, marveling at how soft his skin was, how innocent he looked.

"Will you let me be that person?" she asked, her voice sweet.

He didn't want to answer, afraid that if he tried, he wouldn't be able to speak any coherent words. He just nodded and took her hands away from his face. Softly, he kissed each palm in a silent promise.

"Thank you," she said.

He guided her back into a sitting position but rested his hands on her thighs, not around her waist. She put her small, cold hands on top of his and laced their fingers together.

**ooooooooooo**

After a while, she mustered some courage and asked, "Do you still want to know about Shane?"

He squeezed her hands. "I would like to, but you don't have to tell me."

She sighed. "No, I should." Then, "I have to."

He didn't say anything. Gently, he took his hands away from hers and began to play with the odd ponytail her hair had been put into. Her hair was perfect, he thought. It wasn't too thick or too thin, it smelled good and it was incredibly soft. Sappy as it was, he figured his hands could spend endless hours tangled in the lovely, light brown strands.

"Take it out," her soft voice instructed.

"Huh?"

"My hair. There's no point in keeping it like this for any longer."

"Oh…I…it looks kinda complicated."

"Nah. Just feel around for the bobby pins."

"What if I pull too hard?" he asked, genuinely concerned. "I'm not the most gentle person in the world."

"That's not true. And don't worry, you won't pull too hard. No harder than my mom used to pull when I was little."

She felt him shrug and then move his hands to the side of her head. His fingers poked around, looking for the first pesky pin. His hands felt amazing, sending tingles wherever they touched. She'd always liked having people play with hair and Jess was very, very good at it. Dean hadn't been able to arouse feelings like this. His touches had been remedial and short and she had always been too shy to show him what really felt best. Rory suddenly felt very silly, thinking about Dean and how he couldn't even play with her hair the right way. Granted, that wasn't reason enough to compensate for the breakup, but it was one more little thing that had diminished his perfection.

"Ror?" Jess's voice cut through the haze of her tired mind. "About Shane?"

"Oh. Where was I with that?"

"I was kissing her against a tree at the summer festival," he started.

"Yes, kissing her very hard, with your hands in her back pockets. And I was jealous, alright? I was upset and jealous and I wanted to run up to you two and pull her away. And then I felt like a terrible person after because she was obviously your girlfriend and I still had Dean. Dean, with his middle school kisses and his love of monster trucks, Dean who had worn a tux and tails and white gloves for me. And do you know what was worse? I hadn't even seen Dean yet! I saw you first, you with _her _attached to your face." He chuckled at the last part. "And then I thought, _'is this the type of girl he really goes for? Was all of that time spent thinking about him in Washington a joke? Did he even like me at all or was I imagining things?_ And besides all of that, I don't even have tits! Or an ass!" He chuckled again.

"So you were jealous, huh?" No answer. He had taken out three pins and placed them neatly on the bridge. He wondered how many more were in there, holding the crazy hairstyle in place. "You do have tits, Rory."

"They're small ones," she muttered. "I'm sorry about that."

He added another bobby pin to the pile. "That's quite alright. I'm not that much of a dick, you know. I don't care about size. If there was nothing there, that would be a different story, but you definitely have something."

"Yeah," she snorted. "A _little _something."

"I can see this is going to be a bigger issue for you than for me," he teased. Again, no answer. "Did you wish that it was you?"

"What?"

"Did you wish that it was me and you against that tree?" She nodded. "Did it turn you on?" He knew he was being bold but he was curious to see exactly how much she was willing to let him know.

"Yes," she whispered.

Oh. Wow. He hadn't been expecting that, not even in the current spirit of honesty. Temporarily, he removed his hands from her hair and brought them to rest on her shoulders.

"Just you wait," he said, lips hovering dangerously near her neck, voice low and husky. "I can kiss you like that and I can kiss you better than that." A shocked, "oh" and then a soft whimper made up Rory's response. He kissed her neck and felt her shiver under his hands. "That's a promise," he added. She have him a shaky nod, not really knowing what to say.

"Please," he said, "please don't be afraid of me."

She cleared her throat and then spoke. "I—I'm not."

He snorted a little. "You just told me—rather hysterically—that you were."

"Okay, I am. But I'm excited, too! God! I'm like Little Red Ridinghood from 'Into the Woods!'"

"I am officially lost," Jess smirked.

"There's a line when she's talking about her first meeting with the wolf and she says that he made her feel excited and scared. I think it sums up how I feel about you."

"So I'm a wolf?" he joked.

She shook her head. "No, silly. Although there is something to be said for the way you look at me sometimes. It's rather…wolfish."

"Didn't know you were paying attention."

"That's 'cause I'm _good_," she said, grinning to herself.

"Please, Gilmore. You are about the least stealth person I've ever met. My drunken mother has more tact than you and I'm willing to bet that your _crazy_ mother is also more advanced in that area."

"She's had practice" Rory pouted.

"Awww," he ruffled her hair. "I got all the pins out, I think." She flipped her head over and shook it back and forth a few times before running her hands through the parts where the bobby pins had been.

"Yep. All gone. Thank you."

"It was a pleasure," he said honestly.

"Wow. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Suave."

"Is that how you react to compliments? That's very polite, Rory, really."

"First he lectures me about listening, now he tells me about being polite. As the kettle in this situation, I feel it is my duty to tell you that you're black and my apologies."

"Very funny. And hey, we also managed to evade the topic at hand once again."

"What topic would that be?" she turned around and smiled up at him

"Yeah, you know what? You're really not that cute after all. What was I thinking?" He smiled then, the brightest smile she'd ever seen from him. Even though the light had just begun to pierce the dark night, she could still see his face clearly and he was beautiful. He looked like a different person. Maybe, just maybe she could make him look like that a lot more often.

"So how far _did_ you get with Dean?" he asked, anxious to get the last of her initial worries sorted out.

"Not very," she answered flatly.

"Rory," he said sternly. "I'm going to need a little more than that."

"You're going to love this," she said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Really, it's the most pathetic thing our tortured world has ever witnessed. I dated him for a little over 2 years and do you know how far we got? Huh? You ready for this? Barely second!"

"Barely second?" he questioned.

"Yeah!" she was exasperated now, finally letting out anger she didn't know she had over the subject of her and Dean's lack of a physical relationship. "Barely second, _meaning_ that he never went under my shirt, not even once!"

"Ouch," was all Jess could say in response.

"And at the time, it wasn't like I was thinking about going farther or anything but it would have been nice to see him at least _try_ or something. All I got were sweet little kisses and tons of hand holding and a stupid, tall dork who couldn't even play with my hair the right way!"

"I can't believe I'm going to say this," Jess began, "but at least he cared for you. A lot. And he loved you."

"Yeah," she said sadly. And then, "You suck."

"What?"

"You suck," she repeated. "I was fine in my chaste little relationship and then you had to come along with your pranks and your 'what is much' and your marginal notes and your good taste in music and stir up all these _feelings_ that I didn't even know I had!"

"Rory, did you honestly think you were going to marry the guy?"

"No," she admitted.

"I didn't get the feeling that you and Dean were going to be the great love story of the century. At the most, you would have stayed with him until college, maybe through your freshman year. I think you would have broken up with him eventually. I just happened to knock a couple of years off that plan."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just keep going back and forth about everything that happened."

"You can't plan shit like this out. It goes its natural course. I know you're organized and whatever but you can't organize a relationship."

"I know," she said, defeated. "It would be so easy if you could, though. Stupid Dean, stupid me, stupid you."

"Hey, right now, Dean's the stupid one. Didn't even try going up the shirt," Jess made a _tsk tsk_ noise. "Would you have let him?"

"Eventually, probably."

"Give me a better figure than that."

"I don't know. Maybe 4, 5 months into the relationship. I know it sounds prudish but that was my first kiss, too and even that took a while for me to get comfortable with. Two years is a long time and boys of that age are supposed to want to do that kind of thing, aren't they?"

"Yup."

"He protected me," Rory stated. "He treated me like a fragile, little thing and probably lived in fear of my mother killing him if she were to find out that he'd gone and felt me up. He saw the way that the whole town watched over me and I guess he wouldn't dream of defiling me, fearing the repercussions. And I of course was too naïve to even realize that there was something missing."

Jess shook his head. "Jeez, this town is so fucking weird. It's not like he was going to turn you into some raging nymphomaniac. He should have just wanted to make you feel good, desired."

"I guess that was a position waiting to be filled by you," she half joked.

"I make you feel desired?"

"God, yes," she breathed.

"And how does that feel?"

"Amazing."

He swept aside her hair and gently bit her neck, causing her more internal trembles and quakes. When she felt him begin to suck lightly, she grabbed his hand for leverage and allowed a moan to escape.

"Well," he laughed, pulling away, "I guess we learned that you're sensitive there." He kissed her cheek.

"Just…go slow, okay?" her voice was soft.

"Slow?"

"You know I'm not like the other girls, Jess. I'm going to be a little prudish, but I want to learn, too and I know you can teach me how to actually act like a 17 year old girl who's attracted to her boyfriend. So just…don't expect everything all at once. And if I'm not good enough for you, let me know, please."

"Okay," he nodded. "But you could never be not good enough. You're amazing, Rory, and I don't even care if I never make it under the shirt either--"

"Oh, you will," she enthusiastically interrupted.

He gave a little laugh and then spoke again. "Just having you is good enough for me," he finished.

"Good to know," she said, her tone higher than normal. It was a lovely thing that he had just said, one she would be sure to never forget for as long as she lived.

"I won't pressure you and I won't make you do anything you don't want to do. You have to hold up an end of the bargain yourself, though."

"Huh?"

"Don't be afraid to tell me to stop. You're right, I know you aren't like any other girl I've been with so I'm not going to look at you funny if you decide you want to push me away."

"Fair deal," she said, snuggling back into him and putting her hands inside his jacket for warmth.

There was more light in the sky now and it reflected a gorgeous shade of blue-green on the water. The air was starting to smell like a fresh morning and Rory herself felt refreshed. So many things that she had kept hidden away had finally burst out and revealed themselves, things she didn't think she'd ever be able to say. She felt like the giant weight of the past few months had departed for parts unknown where it was sure to not be missed.

"Are you nervous?" she asked, suddenly.

"Petrified," he answered. "I have what I wanted and now I'm petrified."

"Good. Glad to know I'm not the only one with uneasy feelings."

"We're in this together," he said.

"Promise? And don't say you promise if you can't keep it and you know you can't keep it because that would be bad and it would be a bad start to what's supposed to be a good relationship and it would make everything we talked about--"

"I promise, Rory," he cut her off.

She seemed to sink farther into him, then, almost as if she were trying to become part of him.

"You tired?"

"Extremely." With everything out in the open now, she had finally allowed the reality of the past 24 hours to creep in and rear its ugly head. Everything came flashing back—struggling to the gym, Luke's secret coffee stash, Sookie and Jackson fighting, Lorelai's "new" vintage shoes, Mrs. Kim's fake egg salad sandwiches. "Take me home, promise boy," she commanded.

Jess got up first, carefully sliding back and away from her before standing up and offering her his hand. Grateful, she took it and they started back across the bridge hand in hand, their minds full of anticipation and apprehension.


End file.
